LED Headlamp Flashlight with Red Led Light - Head Lamps for Adults - Brightest Headlight Lamp Camping Hiking Running Fishing Hunting - Waterproof Headlamps - Best Work Head Lamp with Free Batteries

This is the only true review on Amazon I suppose, I will keep it short and to the point. Every review on Amazon for this light is bought and paid for by the manufacturer, I don't like that Amazon is now full of these " I received the gift for an honest review" because I would have liked this light alot more if it was free. Now, the light... It is very bright with a poor light pattern, it really is more of a spot light than a hiking\cycling light. Should be fine for around the house stuff (ie, under the sink, finding something in the garage etc..) but the light is so directed that you can't see anything outside of the beam when you are out in total darkness. If I was to hike with this light I could definitely see down the path, but nothing side to side or up and down.. just directly in front. For me that won't work so it went back. The build quality was ok, nothing to write home about but for $25 it's just ok. The red led's are also just ok, with a very strange light pattern as well. I didn't spend too much time with the red mode as I knew it was being returned due to the primary lights not working for my needs. I have a 8 day Utah trip coming up and I would never use this light for the things we are doing. I moved up to a nitecore hc50, for $20 more it's a no brainer. Twice as bright, longer battery and much more even light output.

First the good parts:LIGHT QUALITYThis is a nice light. It has the high-power white LED (that the manufacturer says is a CREE-XP-E, whatever that is, and two red LEDs that seem like the "high-efficiency red" kind, given how the light that they produce looks slightly orangey, like a proper HER LED would be. The beam is narrow, but it has enough halo to give you some degree of flood light do you don't trip on things.CONTROLSThe buttons functions are well designed:Left button cycles through white modes (high, medium, low, SOS), right button cycles through red modes (red and red blink.) You can not turn on both red and white lights at the same time, because turning on the second light automatically turns off the first (this is good, because having both lights on is useless.) Waiting a few seconds after the last button press, and then pressing the button again turns the light off right away, so you can turn the thing off quickly, without cycling through the annoying useless blinking modes.The controls are really useful, and the brightness settings are appropriate.WATER INGRESS PROTECTIONThe battery compartment has a gasket. The circuit board compartment has NO gasket. It is held together by three little screws, which seem like they would create enough tension to keep the compartment water-tight under heavy rain even without a gasket, but forget about submersion.DESIGN AND LOOKSThe thing is not particularly ugly, and looks like the pictures in the product description page.INTERNALSThis runs the both LED lights directly through a series resistor. There is no switching regulator or any kind, or any regulator for that matter. The CREE LED is on a 0.75 Ohm resistor, and I can't tell what values are the series resistors on the red LEDs. There is a microcontroller that reads the button input and generates the PWM dimming and blinking.I made some current measurements, with a set of nice new alkaline batteries."White high" - about 600 mA"White medium" - about 250 mA"White low" - about 30 mA"Red" - about 30 mA"Off" = about 8 uANow, I didn't do actual runtime measurements (batteries are expensive), but we can get some battery capacity data off of Energizer website and calculate from there: AAA batteries would give you some 1100 mAh at 30 mA load, so on low it would last about 30 hours, and not the 120 that the table on the box promises. On high, at 600 mA, the batteries would give you only about 500 mAh because of the internal resistance. This means that this light on high would kill a set of AAAs in as little as 1 hour, and nowhere near the stated 30 hours. On medium it should last about 3 hours, vs stated 55 hours.With the light off, the batteries should provide up to 1200 mAh. At 8 uA discharge rate this makes some 15 years realistically, which is ok.Now, my calculations don't take the current reducing due to battery discharge into account, so the actual runtimes may be a little better, but I should be in the ballpark. On high and medium you would do significantly better (up to 2x better) with rechargable NiMh, because of their lower internal resistance, but then you might just get yourself a rechargeable lamp to start with.CONCLUSIONNice light, if you ignore the manufacturer's lumen/runtime table. I would still recommend this, despite the false advertising there, because none of the 3xAAA headlamps are better anyhow. Physical limitations are physical.

I've been using the headlamp for reading on weekends when I'm up in the hills with no utilities.Pro's:-the 3 levels of illumination work well and are quite useful for different light conditions while I read in the dark---this is the primary reason I bought the lamp (I don't bother with the red lights);-the head band is comfortably snug and adjustable.Con's:-the on/off buttons are annoyingly small and not-tactile enough for convenience--I personally would like the buttons a bit larger and easier to find with my finger-tips;-the unit has several ratcheted pointing positions that are not necessarily convenient for reading---the lamp can be positioned in only specific incremental positions, up and down, but not always where you'd like the lamp to point--only by re-positioning the head-band can I get it to shine on the part of the page I want.

I agree with the five-star reviews of this product, and I also agree with the reviewer who said the beam is too narrow for biking, hiking and general night use. But there is a cheap and easy remedy that widens the beam, and in the process, extends the product's functionality: all you need is a piece of 3/4" wide Scotch Magic Matte-finish Tape, which is the most commonly found form of scotch tape. I just stick a 1" long piece of the tape over the main light. The frosted matte finish of the tape disperses the light beam perfectly for biking, hiking, etc., and it's effect on brightness is minimal. Now I have the best of both worlds: a wide beam for general use, and a narrow beam when I need it. I fold over a little tab on the end of the tape to make it easy to remove, and I stick it to the back of the battery compartment when I'm not using it, which keeps it handy for when I need it again. By the way, when I do home repairs, this light is great for illuminating what I am working on, night or day, especially with the Scotch tape on to disperse the beam. Things like fixing a door hinge, replacing a light switch, or plumbing repairs are so much easier with a hands-free light making whatever I look at bright enough to see the details. I never work without it. And it has even extending my gardening time past sundown. The design and build is better than most: I bought my first one 18 months ago, and it's still going strong. Finally, I did not get this product for free; I paid full price, three times: one for me, one for my spouse, and one for the car.